I have a CAT Ultimate. While I haven't heard everything, if these are not the best preamps available anywhere, they are WAY up there. I have even heard a 8-10 year old CAT Reference and, while it sounded slightly different (a little brighter, maybe slightly less smooth, and even more dynamic than my Ultimate), it is also a great preamp. The CAT is, above all things, musical like nothing I have heard. But they also are grain free, have great extension at the frequency extremes, dynamic and have a magically transparent midrange. I have heard a BAT VK-50 with BAT amplifier (don't remember which) playing through a B&W Matrix 802 and found the sound uninvolving. Uninvolving sound, I believe, is something a CAT is incapable of.
